


The Unwanted Reprieve

by Nitrobot



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: F/M, Reunited and It Feels So Good, or does it?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 05:06:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3965497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitrobot/pseuds/Nitrobot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tarn has some apologising to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Unwanted Reprieve

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna be honest, I don't have a lot of love for the Transformers comics nowadays, but even I couldn't resist succumbing to liking Nickel a little bit. And in typical me-fashion, I immediately shipped her with the most obvious mech.   
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“Go away.”

There was an underlying squeak in Nickel’s command that made Tarn waver outside her little sanctuary. She really _was_ mad at him this time. 

He expected her to have some infrared tripwires and other traps set up around the deceptively plain entrance to her workshop, so he didn’t dare step closer. Instead he tilted his helm, focusing his optics on the sparking linked components and half-filled tubes scattered around her station. Her back obscured most of what she was doing, but Tarn towered high enough to catch a few familiar glimpses.

“Still working on the same energy conversion project?” he asked. He never had much of a mind for science, but if there was one thing that lowered Nickel’s guard for her, it was talking about her work.  
The small femme’s servos paused, but she didn’t turn to face him.

“I’ve had a lot of time for it,” she said curtly. “Since I haven’t been busy patching you all up every other breem.”

At least she didn’t seem to carry her anger solely towards him. His colleagues had made all their apologies towards her in their own ways- Tesarus saved her a job of cleaning out dried energon and mangled plating from his shredder blades, and even Vos learned a few syllables of Neocybex to properly say sorry to her. As their leader though, it lay on Tarn’s shoulders to appeal to her. 

After all, he was the only one who was bonded to her.

“We all agreed that you would appreciate the reprieve.” It was a poor excuse for leaving so abruptly, and they both knew it. Something slammed down on the table beneath Nickel’s shaking servos and she whirled on the wheels of her peds, spacing them apart as if she was about to run Tarn down. Her optics brimmed with a fury he hadn’t seen in so long he’d forgotten it was there. It seared his faceplate and hammered hard, accusingly, into the core of his spark. How could he have left such a magnificent femme to languish alone here?

“There’s a difference between giving me a break and _abandoning_ me, Tarn.” With the squeak in her voice gone, it seemed to take all her effort just to stay standing before him. “But I guess _I’m_ the one who’s in the wrong here, for thinking you’d know that difference by now.”

“Nickel, I-”

“Not even one comm?” It was just as well she interrupted him- he didn’t deserve the chance to explain himself. Her legs started drifting forwards, but she didn’t seem to notice as she rapidly blinked her optics. Oh Primus, he was making her cry. From the memories of past sharp tugs he felt on his spark, it probably wasn’t the first time in their separation either. “In the whole time I was left thinking you were rotting in some Autobot prison or on some wasteland planet, or… or even _worse_ -” 

There was a single drop of coolant starting to drift down her faceplate. He couldn’t help himself. Heedless of the traps and how much she must despise him; his legs fell beneath him and his kneeplates collided hard with the floor, lurching his servos out to pull Nickel close against his shaking frame. He was trembling almost as much as her. 

“You could have at least sent a spark pulse.” If it wasn’t for her being so close, he would have missed her whisper amongst the air sniffling through her olfactories and blowing hard through her vents.

“Do you really think I’d risk having the signal intercepted?” For someone so experienced in manipulating his vocaliser, Tarn could barely force the words past it. How long had it been since he’d last felt the smooth chill of her armour against his, or the playful thud of her spark through it all?

“Anything I sent, anything I wanted to tell you… it would have been traced. They’d have found you before we returned.”

A tiny fist formed against his chest and punched the plating there. It hurt. 

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know, but think of how much of a mess all those dead Autobots would have made around here. You’d have it all waiting for us to clean up for you.”

She actually laughed at that. Primus, he missed that sound. She pulled away from his frame and punched at his faceplate, lighter this this time. It actually tickled. “You’re a real aft, Tarn.”

One of his digits gently wrapped around her wrist. “I know. That’s why I have you around to make up for it.”

Nickel let her place her hands on either side of his faceplate, blinking her optics clear. She tugged lightly at the edge of his mask. “Now take this damn thing off, you know I can’t kiss you with it on.”


End file.
